Page 149 of Spark of the Everflame

Thatvoice—that wretched, angrything—was pacing in frenzied strides, wringing its hands, clawing at the inside of my skin, shrieking to be unleashed, as it had done so many times before.

This time, though, felt chillingly different.

I had never been able to control thevoicewith any reliability, but I had at least been able to control myself. During its worst, most violent urgings, I could flee to the safety of solitude until my temper cooled and thevoicereturned to its slumber.

But tonight, I felt like a passenger to my own rage.

Every instinct and shade of better judgment warned me to leave, to lock myself in my room or run from the house until cooler heads prevailed. But I couldn’t run. I could not even move.

I could not do anything except...

Fight.

“Whether I will or will not marry Henri is my choice,” I shot back at him. “Not yours.”

“You gave up that choice when you walked away from being a healer.”

“The hell I did. If Mother were here, she would never let you say that to me.”

“Well she isn’t here,” he snarled, “and we’re all making sacrifices.”

“Please stop, both of you,” Teller pleaded.

“Then I’ll make some other sacrifice. I can find work in Paradise Row.”

“No daughter of mine will work as a barmaidor a prostitute. That is not up for discussion.”

Fight.

“It’s not your choice.” My face was burning hot, the air around me sizzling as if I’d walked right back into last night’s raging inferno. “I’m a grown woman, I’m not a child anymore.”

“Then stop acting like one.”

“You can’t—”

“Enough,” he bellowed. Even the cutlery laying along the kitchen hutch rattled faintly at the force of his thunderous tone. “I am your father, and you will obey me.”

FIGHT.

“You are not my father!”

The words poisoned the air like a foul odor. Lingering. Turning my stomach.

“Be that as it may,” he said, his voice rough and trembling, “I am the closest thing to one that you will ever have.”

FIGHT.

“Fine then,” I seethed between gritted teeth. “Tell me, dearFather—where is our mother?”

He faltered. A subtle, almost imperceptible thing. “I don’t know.”

Liar.

“I don’t believe you.” My eyes narrowed to slits, a silvery firestorm blazing behind them. “Why did you stop looking for her,Father?Why have you barely lifted a finger since the day she disappeared?”

I had never seen him look so furious with me before.Never. I should have been terrified, but his wrath was feeding the flames of my own. My hands tingled with pulsating sensations of frost and fire.

Fight. Fight. Fight.

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